


Ambition

by LoonyLazari



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Character Death, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Gryffindor, Harry and the main OC are kinda friends though but like not really, Minor Character Death, Several Original Characters - Freeform, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slytherin, The OC ships are two different OCs, no love triangles here boys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:01:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29712729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoonyLazari/pseuds/LoonyLazari
Summary: YEAR 1~7“You’d rather cower and hide from risks or anything that brings potential failures… Ahhh, that fear of failure tells me enough. I can sense it… Ambition lurking within the corners of your mind, wanting to prove yourself to the point that you fear giving it your all, only for it to not be enough… But your heart yearns for something, and unlocking that ambition would serve you well. On top of a witty mind that values cunning strategy and at the end of the day will do anything you must to achieve what you want… Yes, it has to be, there’s no other choice— SLYTHERIN!”—Elaine Romanov, half-blood witch, self identified with a lack of motivation or ambition gets sorted into Slytherin where ambition is the defining trait. The Weasleys— Close family friends, her sister Cassidy— A Gryffindor, along with her father. But despite it’s flaws, Slytherin is the only place she’s ever been so comfortable in. Follow Elaine as she tries to balance a normal school life, her crumbling relationship with her sister, and... a not entirely negative relationship with Draco Malfoy? Of all people?
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Original Female Character(s), Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter/Original Female Character(s), Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Original Female Character(s)/Original Male Character(s)
Kudos: 3





	1. The Sorting

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! This is uh actually my first time writing a fan fiction so I hope it’s alright T___T I plan for it to be a slow burn that hopefully spans far over 50k but we’ll see how far my motivation takes me. I’m actually not that big into Harry Potter so I’m sorry if I’ve written any of the characters incorrectly, but I love the world setting so I wanted to see what I could do with it. Also I’m going to be taking a lot of liberations with this in changing side characters since let’s admit it, a lot of original Slytherin characters are just meant to be bad guys since J.K. Rowling tried to villainize Slytherin so much. Also I’m bad at summaries so I’m sorry ahaha...

———

Elaine fidgeted with her hands nervously at the train platform, picking at dirt under her nails. So the day’s finally come… She felt a mix of apprehension and excitement run through her as she stared at the brick wall that was for platform 9 ¾. How nerve-wracking….. This one day in our lives determines our lifestyle and set of friends for the next years to come. She was actually nervous, incredibly so. She hadn’t thought about it much when she was younger, just excited at the prospect of learning magic. However, now at the age of eleven, at the age to only just start forming her own critical thoughts, and about to attend her first day at Hogwarts, she can’t help but scrutinize the system. She was only eleven— which was still old of course! She’s mature… she’s not a child anymore! ...Whatever you say Elaine— back on track though. Should who she is now really determine where she’s going to reside for the next seven years? Why can’t they change houses? People change too—

“Hey!” Elaine winced as she felt a strong tug on her hand and glanced over at her sister who just pulled on it after calling for her.

“Huh?” Elaine responds sort of dumbly and grimaces before smoothing out her facial features, tugging her hand back to her own side. “What is it, Cass?”

“The Weasleys just arrived! Did you not see?” Cassidy inquired, furrowing her eyebrows. Elaine shook her head. “Nope. Didn’t see a thing.” She really hadn’t, she was occupied mulling over her thoughts.

“Let’s go talk to them! I HAVE to say goodbye to Ginny. I’m really gonna miss her…” Cassidy whined over the loss of her best friend for a whole school year. Cassidy began dragging her over to the big family as Elaine scrambled to get a tighter grip on their shared trunk of supplies.

“I mean hey, at least she’s joining next year right?” Elaine supplied in an attempt to be helpful. Ginny was sweet but she personally had never talked to her much. Really, all the weasleys were quite nice, especially Molly, their mother. Even though Cassidy was much closer to them than Elaine was, she still appreciated the family and all the time they’ve spent together. The Weasleys were close family friends, always spending time with them since Arthur and the girls’ father were good friends in Gryffindor.

“Well I’m still gonna miss her! That’s one year too long, you know?” Cassidy huffed, before raising her hand for an excited wave upon coming closer to them all, having just missed Percy who just headed into the platform via the brick wall.

“Cass!!” Ginny eagerly wrapped Cassidy in an embrace and pulled away after a few seconds. “I wish I could go with you…. I’m really gonna miss you… mom can’t I go too? I don’t wanna say goodbye to Cass!”

“Oh hush, you’re not old enough yet, Ginny. You’ll see her next year!” Molly responded, shaking her head.

The two girls groaned in dissatisfaction in response as Ginny released her from the hug. “Well I’m really gonna miss you! Make sure to write to me okay! I wanna hear all about what goes on this year!”

Cass nodded, smiled goofily. “Of course.”

“Aww look George it’s the ickle little Romans!” Fred and George came up to the sisters’ sides, grinning mischievously. Elaine rolled her eyes at the nickname. Their family’s last name was Romanov so the two would always refer to them as that.

“Fred, you next. Stop bugging the two poor girls.” Molly insisted.

“I’m not Fred, I’m George,” ‘George’ responded.

“Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother?  
Can’t you tell I’m George?”

“Sorry, George, dear.”

“Only joking, I am Fred,” Fred responded, and ran off to the platform before sending a quick wink of acknowledgement to the two girls. “Till later Romans!”

George called him over and they both disappeared into the entrance of platform 9 ¾.

“Now girls, why don’t you go with Ron? I know you both must be pretty nervous too.” Molly nudged Ron forward with her hand.

Elaine nodded, tugging on a strand of her own hair and smiling politely. “That’d be nice. Thank you, Molly.”

“Of course dear.” She smiled warmly in response.

Cassidy stuck her tongue out at Ron playfully and Elaine chuckled at it. Cassidy had always acted like her and Ron were brother and sister.

“Excuse me,” a dark haired boy said approaching the small group.

The two sisters turned around to face him since they were previously facing away from him.

“Hello, dear,” Molly responded. “First time at Hogwarts? Ron, Elaine, and Cassidy are new, too.”

She pointed at Ron’s awkward and gangly form, then gestured to Elaine and Cassidy, who both stood out from the previous group of freckled gingers. Elaine and Cassidy both had pale skin, brown hair, and brown eyes. Elaine’s shoulder length-hair was let down naturally while Cassidy kept her chest-length hair up in a ponytail.

“Yes,” the boy said. “The thing is — the thing is, I don’t know how to —”

“How to get onto the platform?” Molly cut him off warmly, and the boy nodded.

“Not to worry,” she said just as warm as her last response. “All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don’t stop and don’t be scared you’ll crash into it, that’s very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you’re nervous. Go on, go now before Ron.”

“Er — okay,” the boy responded awkwardly.

He pushed his trolley closer and stared at the barrier, seemingly hesitant.

Elaine watched as Cassidy walked up to the boy and quickly followed after her.

“You know,” Cassidy started as she came up next to his side, “If you’re nervous we can go together! Doing stuff together with others always makes me feel better.” She grinned.

“Ah- uh- thank you. I appreciate it.” He responded. Her grin widened in response.

Elaine strolled up to the two’s sides and snorted. “I mean worst case scenario you’ll just have a massive headache and maybe a concussion.” She smiled in an amused manner.

The boy chuckled. “Right.”

Elaine walked on ahead of the two and glanced back as she was face to face with the barrier. She turned back to give a quick wave to Molly and went on ahead of the three. She let out a solid breath before reaching her hand in front of her as insurance and running forward— Her hand phased right through though, and she was already on platform 9 ¾. She stared at the steam engine carriages and quickly debated it in her head. I don’t want to talk to anyone new right now but… I do just kind of want to go ahead. She glanced back at the barrier and hummed. Well, I can always find them again later. She headed off into one of the carriages, in search of an empty seat, in a preferably empty compartment.

———

They reunited faster than she anticipated. She had been focusing on sketching in a sketchbook she brought to fill her time and before she knew it she heard Cassidy’s voice beginning to drift near. The compartment door opened and she looked over to see Cassidy and the dark-haired boy with glasses from before.

“Anyways, it’s nice to meet you! As you heard my name’s Cassidy but you can call me— Hey— Eli!” She rushed over to sit in the seat next to Elaine. Elaine groaned in response to the firm poke to her side.

“You totally just ditched us!” Cassidy shook her head.

Elaine held an amused hand up to her mouth and raised her eyebrows. “Oh? And if I did?”

Cassidy huffed and turned to face the boy. “Insufferable! This is my sister Elaine.”

Elaine chuckled and was about to start tuning out the conversation when the compartment door slid open once more and Ron walked over.

“Is anyone sitting— Oh hey, Cass, Elaine. Can I join you guys? Everywhere else is full.”

“Yeah! Of course.” Cassidy responded.

“Go for it.” Elaine shrugged.

Ron sat down next to the dark haired boy.

“Are you really Harry Potter?” Ron blurted out suddenly.

“Harry Potter?! As in the Harry Potter??” Cassidy gasped.

Harry Potter, hm? Well this certainly took a turn… Elaine regarded, watching the three interact.

Harry nodded.

“Oh — well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George’s jokes,” said Ron. “And have you really got — you know...”

He pointed at Harry’s forehead.

Elaine giggled to herself before mumbling, “Way to be straightforward.”

“Oh shut up!” Ron groaned.

Harry pulled back his bangs to show the lightning scar and Ron refocused his attention to him and stared. “So that’s where You-Know-Who —?”

“Yes,” said Harry, “but I can’t remember it.”

“Nothing?” said Ron eagerly.

Elaine rolled her eyes and returned her focus to drawing, still listening in to the conversation.

“Ruuude.” Cassidy butted in slapping Ron’s arm lightly.

“Well — I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else.”

“Wow,” said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, too long before looking out the window.

“Are all your family wizards?” asked Harry.

“Er — Yes, I think so,” said Ron. “I think Mom’s got a second cousin who’s an accountant, but we never talk about him.”

“So you must know loads of magic already.”

Harry turned his focus to the two sisters. “Is your family all wizards too? You mentioned magic on the way over here.”

Elaine figured that Cassidy must’ve gone off on some sort of mini-ramble. She let Cassidy answer.

“Actually, we’re half-bloods! Only half of our family are wizards, on our dad’s side.” She grinned. “Our mum’s a muggle-born.”

“I heard you live with muggles?” Elaine inquired, tilting her head to the side.

“Oh yeah, what are they like?” Ron asked.

“Horrible — well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I’d had three wizard brothers.”

Elaine nodded and tuned out of the conversation as Ron went on a ramble about his life— which she already knew— and opted to look out the window instead. Worries still filled her head. She hoped whichever house she got sorted into she made a few close friends…?

Elaine’s eyes widened slightly as she decided to tune back into the conversation after hearing Voldemort’s name said out loud.

Ron and Cassidy both gasped.

“What?” said Harry.

“You— wow—“ Cassidy was at a loss for words.

“You said You-Know-Who’s name!” said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. “I’d have thought you, of all people —”

“I’m not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name,” said Harry, “I just never knew you shouldn’t. See what I mean? I’ve got loads to learn... I bet,” he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, “I bet I’m the worst in the class.”

“You won’t be. There’s loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough.” Ron replied.

Elaine nodded and smiled politely. “You’ll get the hang of it. Even if we’ve been around magic, it’s not like we’ve put much practice into it.”

He smiled back at her nervously. “Thanks.”

She nodded once more and returned her eyes to the window, briefly drifting off before being nudged in the shoulder by her sister when the cart drew by. She bought 5 chocolate frogs and gladly took two more from the big stash Harry bought and smiling in satisfaction before returning back to her nap.

Elaine woke up once more at the sound of a girl’s voice and drowsily watched her perform a spell on Harry’s glasses before deciding she didn’t care enough and would rather sleep than have time to think about how she has the fate of seven years resting on this one day.

———

Another awakening? Elaine felt herself think with annoyance as she heard the compartment door slide open with a clang, her eyes still closed.

“Is it true?” A boy’s voice said. “They’re saying all down the train that Harry Potter’s in this compartment. So it’s you, is it?”

She fluttered her eyes open and turned her head to the side from where it lay on her forearms to watch the scene unfold.

“Yes,” said Harry, looking at the trio of boys. Two of them were thickset and looked rather mean. They stood on either side of the pale blonde boy, like bodyguards.

“Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle,” said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. “And my name’s Malfoy, Draco Malfoy.”

Ah, a Malfoy. Of course. Elaine thought to herself, eyeing his platinum blonde hair.

Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.  
“Think my name’s funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford.”

Elaine grimaced and slid her eyes over to Cassidy’s offended form.

“Hey! Take that back The Weasleys are great! At least they don’t have to pay for all their worth!” She fired at him, upset.

“And who’re you? A filthy muggle? A half-blood?” He narrowed his eyes at her condescendingly.

“I’m Cassidy. Cassidy Romanov. You should really ask for someone’s name first you know! Though I’d rather not hear it from your mouth.” She huffed. “I’m a half-blood, even though that stuff doesn’t really matter.”

“Sure,” Malfoy chuckled mockingly and turned back to Harry. “Well, you’ll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don’t want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there.”

He held out his hand to shake Harry’s, but Harry didn’t take it.

“I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks,” he said coolly. Draco Malfoy didn’t go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks.

At that, Elaine couldn’t help but let out a snort. Now that was just too perfect.

Malfoy shot her a pointed glare before focusing his eyes back toward Harry. “I’d be careful if I were you, Potter,” he said slowly. “Unless you’re a bit politer you’ll go the same way as your parents. They didn’t know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it’ll rub off on you.”

Elaine scrunched her face in distaste at the words. Now that just was a low blow.

Both Harry and Ron stood up.  
“Say that again,” Ron said, his face as red as his hair.

“What’s your problem?!” Cassidy yelled in frustration.

“Oh, you’re going to fight us, are you?” Malfoy sneered.

“Unless you get out now,” said Harry, more bravely than he felt, because Crabbe and Goyle were a lot bigger than him or Ron.

“But we don’t feel like leaving, do we, boys? We’ve eaten all our food and you still seem to have some.

Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron — Ron leapt forward, but before he’d so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell which Elaine couldn’t help but cackle at.

“Aw, feel like leaving yet?” She spoke up for the first time since they entered, sending the three a shit-eating grin. Malfoy sent her a scathing glare that she’s sure would’ve burned into her if she was anyone else, or not. He’s just a pissy eleven year old.

Scabbers the rat was hanging off Goyle’s finger, the rat’s sharp little teeth sunk deep into his knuckle — Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbers finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once.

“And stay out!” Cassidy called after them.

“What has been going on?” Hermione, the girl from earlier re-entered, looking at the sweets all over the floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by his tail.

Ron immediately ignored her question but Cassidy explained quickly, shooting Hermione a friendly smile as the two boys talked about Malfoy’s family. Elaine’s eyes drifted back to the window momentarily before she sat up straight from her slouched position on the table and stretched.

Hermione advised them to put on their robes before Ron shooed her away, annoyed. He really doesn’t like her much, hm? Elaine thought to herself. She does seem to be quite a know-it-all, but shooing her away so adamantly is a bit harsh, isn’t it? The four put on their robes as they readied to exit the carriage and be on their way to Hogwarts. Elaine subtly took a quiet breath in and a quiet breath out, digging her nails into her palms lightly for comfort. The knot of anxiety in her stomach seemed perfectly content to make it’s home there. She already had an inkling as to where Cassidy would be sorted… and she didn’t know the two boys well enough to say, but given what Ron said it’s safe to assume he’ll be in Gryffindor. She tapped her fingers against her thigh lightly… Gryffindor is for the brave and chivalrous, Ravenclaw is for the wise and witty, Hufflepuff is for the honest and loyal, and Slytherin is for the cunning and ambitious… She really wasn’t sure where she was going to be. Many people exhibit quite a few of those overlapping traits… which one of her’s is even the strongest…? Gryffindor was out of the question. She wouldn’t ever call herself brave. She thinks she’s loyal, but was she honest? She couldn’t quite say. So Hufflepuff could be out of the question… Slytherin… she had never really been ambitious. In fact she’d say she’s the opposite, disappointingly void of it. She bit on her lip, lost in thought while Cassidy dragged her forward. Ravenclaw would probably be the most likely then. She could identify with both of the key traits and it honestly sounded the most appealing… She drifted out of her thoughts as her eyes processed the image in front of her and she heard the various gasps and excited chattering of other first years. Her own arm was being excitedly tugged by Cassidy.

Wow… her eyes widened at the towering sight of Hogwarts. It’s— “It’s incredible!” Cassidy stole the words right from her mouth as they all stared at the looming castle-like school. It’s magnificence surpassed any descriptions of it. Elaine’s gaze wandered to the great black lake separating the castle from them. I wonder what kind of creatures live down there… She slid her hand out of Cassidy’s and began to walk forward to get a closer look at the lake to quench her curiosity but paused as a giant man started directing them.

“No more’n four to a boat!” Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. They all look pretty next to the water… She let out a sigh and shook her head. Things will be alright. She turned her head over toward her sister and saw her heading into a boat with Harry and Ron, followed by the bushy haired girl Hermione.

Elaine hummed to herself and backed away from the edge of the lake, settling into the nearest boat. A girl with olive skin, short dark red hair, and brown eyes entered right after her, without greeting and roughly sat down in the seat across from her. She wore a simple black choker that Elaine thought looked nice. Elaine raised an intrigued eyebrow. Another girl with straight strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes, and freckles also joined right after, sporting a friendly smile.

“Hello, mind if I join?” She asked politely from the entryway.

The red-haired girl eyed her and merely shook her head before returning to her brooding. Elaine chuckled lightly before deciding to give the girl a verbal response. “No, not at all.”

“Thank you!” Her smile brightened.

The last person to join their small boat was the boy who lost his toad earlier on the train, Elaine noted. Hermione said his name was Neville, didn’t she?

“Everyone in?” shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. “Right then — FORWARD!”

Elaine glanced around at all the members of the boat before deciding to return to her original conquest of curiosity. She reached her hand out to graze the water of the lake. A pale hand wrapped around her wrist, stopping her before she could. Elaine’s eyes traced the hand back to the strawberry blonde girl, inquisitively, tilting her head with a silent ‘Why?’

The girl giggled lightly in response. “You shouldn’t do that! I’ve heard the creatures that lurk in the lake can actually be quite dangerous.”

“Oh? Know anything about them?” Elaine asked, complying and withdrawing her hand.

The girl laughed in response. “I’m afraid I don’t know much. I’ve heard horror stories of a muggle getting their hand nearly bit off though..”

The red-haired girl snorted at that and Neville looked terrified at the very notion. Elaine smirked and focused her gaze on the red-haired girl. “Oh? Have we elicited a response from someone?”

“Oh? Are we playing coy? An issue with me not taking?” The girl shot back, straightening out of her slouched posture to stare back at Elaine. Neville shuffled uncomfortably. Elaine supposed this wasn’t exactly everyone’s preferred method of talking, but it sure was what she would call fun. She grinned back in response to the girl’s stare as the strawberry blonde giggled at her side. “Not at all.”

“What’re all of your names?” The blonde girl asked politely after she quieted her giggles.

“My name’s Elaine Romanov, and you?” Elaine asked back.

“Sallows, Fiona Sallows.” She responded back, smiling politely.

“I- I’m Neville Longbottom.” The boy answered her question nervously.

“Alex Adams.” the red-haired girl answered in a clipped tone, crossing her arms and turning back to the nearing castle.

“It’s nice to meet you all.” Fiona laughed quietly before cutting herself off. “Oh, it looks like we’re here now.”

“Indeed.” Elaine commented, shooting her eyebrows up. The four exited the boats along with the other students, Neville quickly scampering away at the announcement of Hagrid finding his toad. Elaine glanced over to her sister happily chatting away with the trio from the train and decided to stick with the two other girls from her boat. No need to soil her fun after all. The two girls had different ideas of fun company to be with and… this was a good chance for them to have different friend groups, for Elaine to have her own that she enjoyed just as much as Cassidy enjoyed her friends.

Hagrid knocked at the gigantic castle door which was answered by a tall black-haired witch in emerald robes who apparently went by the name of McGonagall. She took over the leading position from Hagrid and led the group of students into the castle. The entrance hall was gigantic. Elaine could already tell that this was going to be quite the place to learn to navigate. Fiona nudged her gently. “It’s quite pretty, isn’t it? Hearing about Hogwarts really doesn’t do it justice.”

Elaine hummed in agreement, nodding. Despite not speaking, Alex was still right next to them, taking in the sight with wide eyes that she tried to mask.

“Welcome to Hogwarts,” said Professor McGonagall. “The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.”

“The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.”

“The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting.”

“I shall return when we are ready for you,” said Professor McGonagall before excusing herself. “Please wait quietly.”

“What house do you think you’ll be in?” Fiona asked, playing with a strand of her own hair.

“I’m… honestly not sure. Maybe ravenclaw? That one feels like it would be the closest.” Elaine responded, her gaze absentmindedly tracing the architecture of the place and briefly passing over Cassidy, before returning back to Fiona. “Any idea where you’ll be?”

“I can’t say really… Maybe hufflepuff? I’m often told I’m quite nice and people seem to pin it as the nice house haha..” She laughed quietly.

“I mean if you are, hufflepuff sounds like a really nice house. People dismiss it too easily. Loyalty and modesty are both important qualities.” Elaine said.

Alex clicked her tongue before gnawing at her lip. “How do they even sort out these… houses anyways?”

“I’m not sure, my father wouldn’t say.” Elaine shook her head.

“Well you see… I’m quite sure they use a hat.” Fiona responded promptly.

Elaine and Alex both blinked at her in surprise. “A what?” Alex said in disbelief.

“Excuse me?” Elaine responded with a deadpan face. This was a joke right? They… they didn’t use a hat to determine almost a decade of their life, right?

“A hat,” Fiona reiterated, nodding.

Before they could question Fiona further, screams rang out as ghosts appeared. One named Friar gave his regards to anyone joining hufflepuff and the ghosts filtered out as soon as Professor McGonagall returned.

“Move along now,” said a sharp voice. “The Sorting Ceremony’s about to start. Form a line,” Professor McGonagall told the first years, “and follow me.”

The dining room was splendid as well. The ceiling truly looked like a starry night sky that Elaine felt she could easily get lost in. Elaine’s eyes travelled down the wall until they landed on a stool, a stool with a hat. She groaned. Oh my god they are leaving our fates up to a random effing hat. “Bloody hell,” Alex swore from behind Elaine, noticing the exact same thing. Fiona’s sweet face contorted into a shit-eating grin. Oh that little shit. Elaine hit her arm lightly. Then, just when things couldn’t get weirder, the hat broke out into song.

“Oh, you may not think I’m pretty, But don’t judge on what you see, I’ll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me.  
You can keep your bowlers black, Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat And I can cap them all.  
There’s nothing hidden in your head The Sorting Hat can’t see,  
So try me on and I will tell you Where you ought to be.  
You might belong in Gryffindor, Where dwell the brave at heart, Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart;  
You might belong in Hufflepuff, Where they are just and loyal, Those patient Hufflepuffs are true And unafraid of toil;  
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
if you’ve a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning, Will always find their kind;  
Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You’ll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folk use any means  
To achieve their ends.  
So put me on! Don’t be afraid!  
And don’t get in a flap!  
You’re in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I’m a Thinking Cap!”

Elaine sighed as the rest of the hall applauded. “You know, a sentient hat actually isn’t the weirdest thing. This is fine.”

Fiona giggled. “Well that was a fast recovery.”

“You know what is weird? A singing hat… What is this a fucking musical…” Alex grumbled.

As soon as the song ended, first years started to be sorted in order of their last names. To start off was a girl named Hannah Abbott who was sorted into hufflepuff.

“Adams, Alexandra!” Alex’s name was called quickly, being a last name that starts with A. With a sigh she trudged on over to the hat stiffly and roughly shoved him on her head, earning an ‘Ouch! Be easy there!’ from the hat itself. She sat there for a moment before the hat shouted out, “SLYTHERIN!”

Instead of clapping eagerly like the hufflepuffs, whispers seemed to emerge from the slytherin table, only accompanied by a few stray polite claps, “Adams? I haven’t heard of any wizarding family by the name of Adams.”

“Surely, she must be a muggle then.”

“A mudblood? In Slytherin?”

“That’s just not right.”

Alex narrowed her eyes and marched up to the Slytherin table with the grumpy expression she always seemed to adapt, except a bit more tense. Fiona glanced over at her in concern. So did Elaine. Being sorted into Slytherin as a muggle-born is not going to be easy… she winced. She’s not one to make generalizations, but she’s heard about how prejudice was often commonplace in Slytherin. Their comments were doing nothing to prove that wrong.

A few others were sorted into Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw until a familiar name was called. “Granger, Hermione!”

Elaine watched the bushy-haired girl walk up to the stool and within a moment’s notice the girl was sorted into Gryffindor. She was joined shortly after by Neville, who was so nervous he accidentally exited the stool with the sorting hat. Elaine felt a mix of amusement and pity for the boy. He hurriedly returned the hat to the stool and rushed over to the Gryffindor table. Malfoy was then called upon, swaggering forward with the arrogance he always seemed to radiate. The hat barely touched his head before sorting him right into Slytherin. Elaine’s worry worsened an inch. She really hoped either her or Fiona were sorted into Slytherin so Alex could have someone she knew for sure wouldn’t bash on her for being a muggle, but she knew that wasn’t likely… Well…. she spared a glance toward Fiona. Perhaps it was. The next notable person to be called was the boy who lived himself,

“Potter, Harry!”

As he approached the stool, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.

“Potter, did she say?”

“The Harry Potter?”

Unlike the other sortings so far, his seemed to stall for a bit until his house was announced,

“GRYFFINDOR!” The hat shouted out.

The boy heaved a sigh of relief and made his way to the Gryffindor table. There were still eight people left to be sorted Elaine noted, including Fiona, Ron, her sister, and herself.

She sucked in a breath and shifted her eyes to her sister before her name was even called.

“Romanov, Cassidy!” Her sister glanced over at her with nervous excitement before making her way up. The sorting hat made its decision rather quickly.

“GRYFFINDOR!” It shouted out.

Elaine let out a breath. She saw that one coming, however, she still was nervous about her own sorting that was about to occur. Like. Right now.

“Romanov, Elaine!” Elaine made her way up and carefully sat on the small stool, catching an encouraging grin from her sister that she couldn’t bring herself to return before bringing the hat on top of her head, covering her eyes.

“Hmmm…. interesting interesting….” spoke the small voice of the hat.

 _Interesting?_ She inquired mentally.

“I wonder where to place you… plenty of wit I see, and a strong sense of curiosity to know of the world which would serve you well in Ravenclaw… but you do not have your eyes set on the pursuit of knowledge. It doesn’t stand as your main focus. Despite your curiosity, learning for the sake of purely scholarly learning doesn’t excite you… a potential to be loyal but it hasn’t had the chance to show, for you hold no loyalties towards anyone,” she sucked in a breath at the hat’s comment, “Although you wouldn’t call yourself it, you seem brave to a degree but… No, only when you have to be, only when it’s the best choice. You’d rather cower and hide from risks or anything that brings potential failures… Ahhh, that fear of failure tells me enough. I can sense it… Ambition lurking within the corners of your mind, wanting to prove yourself to the point that you fear giving it your all, only for it to not be enough… But your heart yearns for something, and unlocking that ambition would serve you well. On top of a witty mind that values cunning strategy and at the end of the day will do anything you must to achieve what you want… Yes, it has to be, there’s no other choice— SLYTHERIN!”


	2. The First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elaine settles in her dorm and goes through her first day, gets to know some Slytherins better, argues with Malfoy (if you can even call it that), and talks some things out with her sister which leads to her studying with the Gryffindor quartet later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hii, grinded this one out right after I finished the first. I haven’t really edited it yet so I’m sorry if there’s typos or miswordings, but with the way I’m writing this I’m probably going to be going back to edit stuff rather than taking a long time editing. Um, I hope you all enjoy!

“SLYTHERIN!”

She blinked once, and then she blinked twice. It had been the house she dismissed right from the start. Her head felt like it was spinning lightly, Ambition? Ambition…? Me…? My heart yearns…? She raised the hat off of her head and met the shocked, almost betrayed eyes of her sister before turning around and placing the hat back on the stool. She’s sure that she saw varying levels of shock on all of the Weasley’s faces too, other than Ron. She walked over to the Slytherin table, still taken aback at the certainty the sorting hat held in it’s choice at the end. She slid into a spot next to Alex. At least she could keep Alex company in a house mostly full of purebloods. She wasn’t against Slytherin per say, in fact the concepts of the house had a certain appeal to them, but she was quite shocked. She focused back on the sorting, ignoring the burning feeling of Cassidy’s eyes on her. Why is she even upset? They’re just houses… She felt a second pair of eyes glaring at her but she decided to focus on Fiona.

“Sallows, Fiona!” 

Fiona made her way over to the stool and sat down. Like Harry’s her’s also paused for a moment, but didn’t take quite as long as Elaine’s. The hat firmly shouted out,

“SLYTHERIN!” 

Elaine blinked in surprise. Though part of her suspected it, she hadn’t expected it to be right. She was relieved though, she hadn’t had much time to talk to the two but she likes Alex and Fiona so far and they were both in her house. 

“Hey,” Fiona greeted both her and Alex with a warm smile before sitting down on Elaine’s left. Alex nodded in acknowledgment while Elaine gave her a small one-handed wave. She turned her head toward where she could feel the second glare on her only to meet a stormy grey. 

“Of course you’re getting all chummy with the filthy muggle,” Malfoy spat out, “Is that some sort of common point between you and your sister? Don’t think I forgot how you laughed at us on the train either. You better keep your ugly trap shut or else I’ll tell my father.” He sneered.

Elaine rolled her eyes, unknowingly in sync with Alex’s own eye roll. “My bad, common human decency is quite the crime isn’t it? I best keep my mouth shut to not face the oh-so-scary wrath of your father. My bad, really, Malfoy.” She sassed earning a snicker from Alex. 

He gaped at her as his face flushed red with anger. “You’ll regret that! Don’t talk to me like that!” His glare shot over to Alex. “And you, mudblood, don’t laugh at me you filth!” 

Elaine sighed and turned to face Alex. “Ignore him, he’s immature.” 

Fiona nodded in agreement, her hands resting calmly in her lap. Malfoy scoffed, not giving them anymore of his attention, in favor of turning his focus back toward the sorting. During their bickering, another two students had been sorted into Slytherin, earning applause from around the table. 

Alex furrowed her eyebrows lightly before leaning toward Elaine’s ear as discreetly as she could to whisper, “What’s a mudblood? A derogatory term?” 

Elaine nodded lightly in response, seeing she wanted to keep this conversation a secret. Probably to prevent more mocking for not even knowing the term, which was a smart move on her part. She whispered back while covering her mouth with her hand as if she were resting her chin in it and leaning her elbow against the table, “It’s essentially a slur for muggle-borns. He’s just saying your blood’s ‘filthy.’ Don’t let it get to you. The word doesn’t hold any power if you don’t let it. Even if it’s a term with a despicable meaning. He’s just narrow-minded.” 

Alex grunted in response. 

Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.

“Welcome,” he said. “Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!”

“Thank you!” He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Elaine snickered lightly. He was quite the character, wasn’t he?

Fiona also giggled beside her while Alex just mumbled ‘lame…’

As the feast appeared in front of them the girls refrained from taking to just focus on their own food. Elaine drifted off into her thoughts while eating. She stole a glance at the Gryffindor table. Cassidy was no longer looking at her but she could tell she would want to talk about this later. She sighed. Cassidy always has a habit of being too one-tracked… surely she doesn’t think I’m the bane of evil now, does she? She thought back to the sorting hat’s words. ‘You hold no loyalties towards anyone…’ She had always thought that she was loyal, she didn’t take betrayal kindly herself. But the more she thought about it, did she really have anyone in her life whom she was loyal toward? The question made her insides squirm. The answer was no, an inevitable simple no. She had a loving family and grew up close to one of the sweetest families out there, the Weasleys, yet she still had no one she held any loyalties to? She never realized how alone she had been. What about Cassidy? She cared about her… ‘But I’d always save myself before I save her.’ Her inner thoughts whispered to her. ‘Cass already has people willing to stick their neck out for her, to be her savior if she needs one. She’s practically one of the Weasley's children herself.’ Elaine allowed her eyes to linger on Cassidy’s form, whom was laughing next to Ron, Harry, and Hermione. ‘She’s already settling in with them quite fast. I’m sure with time, they’ll be the same, willing to stick out their necks for each other, forming a quartet of close friendship.’ Elaine’s gaze travelled up to the twinkling star-filled ceiling before taking a sip of water. 

Dumbedore began speaking again. “Ahem — just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.

“First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well.”

Dumbledore’s twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.

“I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors… Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.”

“And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death.”

Alex laughed on her right while Fiona sweat dropped nervously. “A very painful death? That’s quite extreme, isn’t it?” 

“Didn’t see that one coming..” Elaine commented, unsure of whether she should be laughing or concerned. 

The school was forced to sing a dreadful school song. Both Elaine and Alex opted out of participating while Alex grumbled about ‘Effing real-life musicals….’ again. Fiona joined in the singing in an effort to be polite.

Before they knew it, the feast was over and all the houses were being led to their common rooms by their prefects. Elaine could feel Cassidy’s eyes on her again which she promptly ignored until their paths diverged, Slytherin heading towards the dungeons.

That was another thing that caught Elaine’s attention, despite many of those in Slytherin being prejudiced, the house itself was quite discriminated against. Anyone other than Slytherin always talked bad about it, and even in terms of layout they were excluded from the other houses. Elaine had never minded solitude so it’s not particularly peeving, but it still seemed to set a tone for all the house relations. When people were sorted into other houses, everyone seemed to be happy for them… but when they were sorted into Slytherin, all their faces turned to stone. She thought of her sister’s eyes… Betrayal in them… But Elaine hasn’t even done anything. She didn’t choose where she got sorted, she huffed to herself, what a funny thing to be mad at. 

The dungeon was quite cold, but in a pleasantly enticing way. She’d always had a preference for cooler air anyways. The stone walls of the dungeon were eerie, but she didn’t exactly dislike it. Once they reached the common room, she absolutely fell in love. It was gothic and just absolutely— dreadful— in all of the right ways, completely utterly wicked. A pair of black couches and black chairs were seated near the fireplace, that emitted a mesmerizing set of green flames. The Slytherin crest rested directly above the fireplace. A big table, for studying groups presumably, also sat within the room. The stone walls had carvings in them that reminded her of gothic style churches. She had never realized how much she appreciated the dark green and black combination until this moment. But what really grabbed her eye among the sea of students was the window that looked right into the depths of the great black lake. Elaine stared at it in awe, vowing to take some time to just sit by it and watch what creatures pass by.

The prefects showed the first year boys to their dormitories and the girls to our’s. Luckily she was sharing a room with both Alex and Fiona. They were also joined by a girl in their year named Tracey Davis.

The dorm rooms were also welcoming in their own sense. Each of the girls had a poster bed with dark green silk sheets and Elaine could swear she heard the water lapping against the windows in the room. After a long day and brief introductions, each of the girls settled into the room. It didn’t take long for Elaine to fall asleep.

———

Her dark brown hair was tousled in every which way after Elaine woke from her sleep. It was quite a rude awakening actually, meaning she had been shoved to the floor. She groaned and glared at the perpetrator. Alex’s eyes showed not a speck of mercy as she doubled the blow, kicking her side. Elaine dramatically sprawled herself across the floor. “Get up already. Breakfast ends in like 30 minutes. Fiona and Tracey have both already gone.” 

“Shit,” Elaine muttered under her breath, picking herself up from the floor drowsily and running to the bathroom in their dorm to get dressed quickly. She combed her hand through her messy hair and tied it up into a quick ponytail, deciding to worry about tangles later. Alex was already waiting by the door.

The two girls exited the dorm room swiftly, making their way to the great hall. 

They opened the doors and a realization slapped Elaine right in the face. She completely forgot about Cassidy in her drowsy morning rush. She dashed over to the Slytherin table before Cassidy could get the chance to talk to her. 

“Wow,” Fiona said simply, staring at her messy hair, in a non judging manner but somehow still making her feel judged. 

“Who would've guessed, the ugly muggle-lover has an ugly mop of hair to match?” Malfoy insulted. Elaine eyed his disgustingly gelled back hair.

“This is coming from someone who goes through 3 bottles of gel per day? Yeah no thanks, not taking any hair advice from you.” She sneered, her face scrunched, and picked up a glass of orange juice to sip from. Zabini, the last boy sorted the previous night, laughed from next to Malfoy only causing his anger to increase.

“I’ll have you know my hair is far better than the likes of you. I bet you don’t even wash that nasty rat’s nest of your’s. Too poor to ever learn proper self care?” He retorted.

She pretended to mull over the question. “No, actually. We’re off quite well. What can I say, I’m a natural.” 

At this, Alex snorted. “It’s true, she woke up just like this. It’s some real natural talent.”

Elaine played into it. “No need to flatter me, I know, it’s incredible.”

Fiona hummed in agreement, pulling at a strand of her hair lightly. “I actually do like how your hair looks in a ponytail even if it’s messy.”

Malfoy narrowed his eyes and scoffed. “Insufferable, absolutely insufferable, isn’t that right Crabbe? Natural talent? More like a natural failure... What is she, delusional?” 

“Huh?” His goon looked up from where he was previously enraptured by his food, clearly not having been listening in to any of the ongoing conversation.

Malfoy’s glare hardened. “Of course! I mean yeah, of course!” Crabbe answered.

Fiona was now giggling into Elaine’s shoulder, “That was quite the poor performance.” Elaine nodded in agreement, also snickering. 

“He wasn’t even listening.” Alex mused.

“Shut up, mudblood!” Malfoy seethed. 

“No thanks, pissy bitch.” Alex retorted, rolling her eyes.

This elicited a laugh from both Blaise and another boy next to him, who was sorted into Slytherin last night. 

“Man, she called you a pissy bitch!” He laughed into his hand.

“Do not call me man. All of you are insufferable. You do realize you’re siding with a mudblood and her cronies, right? A mudblood?” Malfoy responded with a scrunched face. 

“Broken record player or what?” Elaine commented to Alex quietly, causing her to chuckle in agreement. 

Blaise sighed and ceased his laughter. The other boy next to him however, did not. “Bloody hilarious…” he mumbled, still shaking from laughter before shooting his head up. “What’re your names?”

The three introduced themselves briefly, followed by the boy’s own introduction. “Nice to meet you all~” He grinned and winked. “Including you Miss. Muggle.”

Alex rolled her eyes in response.

“My name’s Cael Toleson.” He introduced himself with a self-confident simper. 

The four conversed until their time tables were passed out. Evidently, Cael was a half-blood as well and Fiona was apparently the only pure blood in the little friend group they had quickly formed. 

“Elaine.” A hand landed on her shoulder.

Elaine froze, she knew the voice before she even turned to face her sister. She cleared her throat and smiled politely, “Yes?” She angled her head to face Cassidy slightly.

“Can we talk?” She inevitably asked.

Elaine stood from her seat with a concealed sigh  
“Sure.” 

The two sisters walked outside of the great hall. Not a second after the door closed did the girl start. “Why did you choose to be sorted into Slytherin?” 

“Choose? Choose..? Cass I didn’t choose which house I went into. I was sorted into Slytherin and that’s that.” Elaine responded with furrowed eyebrows.

“I didn’t expect us to be in the same houses but— Slytherin, of all houses? You know how people in that house are, don’t you?” Cassidy sounded exasperated.

“I don’t know why you’re phrasing this as if I had any sort of choice.” Elaine retorted, glaring.

“Why on earth are you being so rude? Don’t glare at me like that. I’m just concerned.” Cassidy glared back.

“Rude? I’ve hardly even done anything. I’m right, aren’t I? It’s not like I yelled ‘Hey, put me in Slytherin!’ I was expecting to go into Ravenclaw, or something.” Elaine ran a hand through her messy hair. It was a simple concept, was it that hard to understand? 

“So what? Are you saying you were meant to be in Slytherin?” Cassidy responded, her tone laced with a faint desperation and hurt.

“Come on, Cass. Why do you sound like that? Yes, genuinely, I might just be. I can’t say for sure cause I haven’t been there long, but I was sorted into Slytherin for a reason. Is there an issue with that? I know how you feel about Slytherin, but I might just be meant to be there.” Elaine put a hand on her hip, irritated. The idiocy of the conversation was beginning to grate on her nerves.

“I— meant to...? You know what, fine. I’m happy for you and that you feel like you belong. I know that you never really had friends for yourself and— and I saw you actually talking with people.” Cassidy’s expression softened. “Just— just be careful, alright? I don’t want… I don’t want to lose you to the wrong crowd... I’m sure mom and dad don’t want to either.”

Elaine sighed again. She knew where Cassidy’s thought was coming from but… “I’ll be careful, I will. I can take care of myself. I’ll be fine.”

Cassidy gave a small smile. “Alright… and don’t make friends with that arse Malfoy, okay?!” 

Elaine laughed. “I won’t, I won’t. That’s the least likely thing to happen. I think he dislikes me almost as much as he dislikes Alex— the muggle.”

“I’m glad you’re friends with her! I was worried after hearing all the Slytherins whispering about it… No avoiding each other?” Cassidy held out a hand to shake, smiling.

“No avoiding each other.” Elaine nodded, taking the hand and giving it a firm shake.

“I’ll leave you to go back to eating then!” Cassidy said, releasing her hand and stepping back. She paused on her way to the door. “Oh right, Eli, would you like to meet Hermione, Ron, and Harry and I in the library later? At 4:00? Hermione thought it’d be a good idea to review what we learned right on the first day to make sure we got all the concepts down since she’s read ahead.”

Elaine tapped her fingers on her leg gently as she mulled over the offer in her head. It’s not like she didn’t want to go but… Yes, it was exactly that actually. She had been enjoying her freedom with using sarcasm and being blunt without Cassidy scolding her. So, she wasn’t exactly keen on having to return to barely chiming in. On top of that, she wanted to try studying at the table in the common room while gazing out into the depths of the lake.. but she supposed she had time for that any day, and it felt wrong to turn down the invitation right after getting on good terms with Cassidy. 

Elaine directed her gaze back over to Cassidy after it drifted toward one of the nearby windows while thinking the invite over. “Sure, I’ll meet you guys there.”

Cassidy grinned before placing her hand on the door handle to the great hall. “I’ll see you there then!” She opened the door and closed it behind her, leaving Elaine to herself for a moment.

Elaine hummed in thought and mumbled, “Well it won’t hurt to talk to them again.” She entered the great hall and returned to the Slytherin table.

“What was that about?” Fiona asked, tilting her head.

“She seemed quite pissy,” Cael commented, his eyebrows jumping up. Alex nodded in agreement. “That’s one way to put it. Wasn’t she glaring at you all last night too?” 

Elaine winced. “Yeah, she was just upset about where I got sorted. Was just being kind of annoying about it, but we talked it out, for now at least.”

“For now?” Cael raised an amused eyebrow, and leaned his head on his hand, his elbow on the table. 

“She never lets go of things,” Elaine rolled her eyes, arms crossed, “I suspect this is going to come back up later.” 

Fiona laughed lightly, “For some reason, that feels suiting for her. Gryffindors are pretty stubborn too, you know?” She leaned back in her seat, keeping her balance by holding onto the table ledge. “I hope she doesn’t give you a hard time for that, it’s not in your control and despite some of the people here, Slytherin isn’t a bad house.”

“Of course it’s not,” Cael piped in, his hand under his chin, smirking in a smug manner, “I’m here after all~”

“I would argue that makes this house worse.” Alex scoffed, taking a bite of her eggs. 

Elaine laughed behind her hand and shot an appreciative glance toward Fiona for her concern before turning her attention toward the two bickering. “I have a feeling Alex isn’t the biggest fan of yours already, Cael.” 

He winked and spoke after swallowing a bite of his food. “Don’t worry, she will be one day! Just you watch.” 

Fiona giggled into Elaine’s shoulder. “Doubt it…” 

Before the group realized, it was already time for classes. They scrambled up in a somewhat chaotic manner and began making their way out of the great hall. Elaine sucked in a breath, finally, they were starting their classes, and the school year was beginning.

———

The first day of classes went well. Elaine didn’t really dislike any of her teachers so far. In her first period she had Herbology, followed by Charms, History of Magic, and then Transfiguration. Today they hadn’t shared any of their classes with Gryffindor so she hadn’t really seen her sister around other than during lunch. That was probably for the best though, a Slytherin and Gryffindor combined class would be rocky, very very rocky. It was obvious the two houses had tension from the very first day; the way they reacted to each other, the looks on their faces when someone was sorted into the opposing house, the usage of the other house’s name as an insult. It was pretty clear that there was bound to be some high tensions in a shared class. Admittedly, Elaine was a bit curious to see it. However, she dreaded if her sister would try to scold Elaine for remaining an observer like she tended to. 

Her light footsteps gently tapped against the floor as she made her way to the library. She excused herself from Alex, Cael, and Fiona earlier from where they were sitting in the common room. When she left Alex and Cael were bickering while Fiona giggled. She smiled softly to herself. ‘I never thought I’d make friends so quickly…’ Even if she didn’t know them well yet, she felt a small wave of content wash over her at the ease she had conversing with them. She never had an easy time talking to others while enjoying it really. She could get along just fine, but she really did sincerely enjoy the interactions she’s made so far. ‘I really can make my own friends here… I hope this lasts.’ She thought to herself, reminding herself not to get too ahead of herself. She’s only known them for a day, and plenty can happen in 7 years. She really does hope they stay friends though. As she pondered on the thought, she finally found the library and made her way inside. 

She kept her footsteps light and stayed close to the bookshelves, wandering further into the library. Her eyes glanced from one side of the room to the next, trying to spot the four Gryffindors. Her breath hitched as she heard a cackle from behind her and she whipped around to see Malfoy and his two goons. ‘Oh, it’s just the prats.’ She relaxed her stance. The two boys might’ve been big, but them being led by immature prick Draco Malfoy somehow immediately decreased the intimidation factor for her. 

“What’re you sneaking around for, Romanov? Looking for another filthy muggle to hang around, mud lover?” He simpered, arms crossed arrogantly.

She huffed out a breath, how annoying. She crossed her arms right back and leaned against the closest bookshelf. “Yes, actually. Better be on your way or else they’ll dirty your precious little blood and infect you, Malfoy.” 

He clenched his fists and glared at her. “As if they could dirty my blood,” disgust shined in his eyes, “You really have no shame. Openly being a mud lover? Even worse. You’re not with your little group of friends either. What, they ditch you already? Even the mudblood?” He laughed and Crabbe and Goyle joined in. 

She rolled her eyes. “You ought to do a better job of riling people up if that’s a goal of your’s. I’d argue I’m doing better without even trying. Am I not allowed time to myself Malfoy? I’ve hardly known any of you for a day.” She pushed off the wall and began to walk away.

“Hey— where do you think you’re going! I’m not done with you!” He yelled angrily. 

She raised her eyebrows, “You haven’t even started with me, Malfoy. You’re really not getting anything done here. Come back to me when you have something actually provoking to say.” 

His face was flushed with anger and embarrassment as he turned away from her, running off with Crabbe and Goyle and muttering about ‘how he’s going to tell his father about this,’ ‘stupid mud lover, I’ll show her!’, ‘how dare she mess with a Malfoy!’

She rolled her eyes and glanced over at a clock in the library. Oh, oh no. She was going to be fifteen minutes late because of that little encounter, whoops. She tightened her grip on her book bag strap that sat on her shoulder and resumed her search. After a few minutes, she heard Cassidy’s familiar voice and followed the sound to see the four Gryffindors seated at one of the tables, chatting. She approached them quietly and smirked to herself. Harry, being in the chair facing her, noticed her. Before he could say anything, she met his eyes and held a finger up to her lips in a shushing motion and crept up on Cassidy’s chair. His eyes weren’t quite subtle, but he kept quiet. By the time Hermione seemed to catch on and turn around, it was too late. Elaine blew cold air in Cassidy’s ears and pinched the back of her neck, causing the girl to squeal. 

“UWA— ELI!! STOP IT!” She shrieked, leaning away from Elaine. Elaine grinned mischievously.

“Hello~ Have I been missed? Sorry, for being late.” She walked around the table and pulled out the open chair on the side between Harry’s and Cassidy’s. 

Ron grunted in response and Elaine raised an eyebrow. Ron had never exactly liked her, but she figured it was safe to assume that with her house sorting that his opinion of her only worsened. 

“Hello, Elaine! I’m glad you could join us.” Hermione greeted her, friendly as ever. Elaine smiled at her politely. Even if she was a know-it-all, she was friendly at least.

“Glad I could make it. Sorry for being late, again. How are you all enjoying Gryffindor?” She asked, brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear. 

“It’s been amazing! Hermione and I are in the same dorm room too.” Cassidy smiled wide.

“I take it she’s not giving you any trouble?” Elaine joked, leaning back in her chair.

“Not quite yet! But I suspect she will with how little she pays attention in class.” Hermione scolded Cassidy lightly. 

“Hey! I’ve paid well enough attention.” Cassidy defended.

“I haven’t seen you take any notes, Cassidy.” Hermione corrected her in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Well that’s simple, it’s cause I haven’t.” Cassidy smiled proudly, holding her index finger up.

Hermione groaned. “You really ought to, Cassidy. Otherwise this is going to be a long, hard year for you! Plus we are learning the essentials right now. You’re going to need to know this stuff in years to come.” 

Elaine huffed in light amusement at the girls’ bickering. She turned her head towards Ron and Harry. “How have you guys been fairing?”

“It’s been good.” Ron responded promptly, shifting his eyes away from her. He really didn’t like her now, hm? 

“It’s been great so far… it’s just— it’s all so much to take in.” Harry admitted.

“I’m sure,” Elaine nodded, “Especially coming from a muggle family, it must be a lot of new information to take in.”

Harry nodded in response. “It is,” his eyes lingered on her as if he wanted to continue but wasn’t sure.

She tilted her head in quiet inquiry, prompting him to ask what was on his mind.

“Well— you seem a lot more talkative than you were yesterday. Are you… enjoying Slytherin?” Harry asked, a bit nervously. He didn’t seem judging at least, Elaine noted, just curious and a bit biased. It was far less judgmental than how her sister felt that morning and how Ron seemed to be feeling right now. 

She nodded. “It’s been nice so far. I have been talking more, haven’t I?” She pondered on that part. ‘What a quick change…’ 

Cassidy nodded in agreement, jumping into the conversation. “You really have! This is the most I’ve seen you talk in like, years! Lots of years!” 

“Probably cause she’s finally around her snake buddies…” Ron mumbled. Elaine stared at him, unimpressed.

“Ron!” Hermione hit his arm lightly. “Don’t be rude! Anyways,” she turned her attention to all of them, “We should be focusing on studying! Enough chatting. This is a time for learning.” 

Ron groaned. “Seriously….”

And so the group began studying. 

Elaine grew bored quickly as they covered what they went over in class. It also dawned on her that Cassidy didn’t realize their schedules were not the same initially. They were lucky to have had the same classes that day, just in different time slots, or else she would’ve been reviewing material she didn’t even learn. Elaine enjoyed learning, but she was never an adamant note taker. She mostly just jotted down key points and went into detail if she was specifically interested in the subject. She tuned out the reoccurring sound of Hermione’s voice, Cassidy’s comments, Ron’s groans, and Harry’s occasional input. The study session came to an end in a prompt 30 minutes, or rather, Elaine opted to head out a bit earlier. They apparently planned to only stay an extra fifteen minutes or so anyways. 

As she walked down the hall to the library, she paused in realization that her book bag felt lighter than before. She opened it and glanced through quickly, to see a book missing. She sighed and turned back towards the library. ‘I must’ve left it on the table…’ She stalked across the library in her usual quiet manner and was about to walk around the bookshelf that concealed her from the Gryffindors’ views until—

“Why were you so rude to her!” Hermione whisper-yelled, still wanting to respect a sense of quiet within the library. “It’s not as if she’s the bane of all evil just because she’s from Slytherin, Ron. She was very polite to us, dare I say far more than you.” Elaine paused, curious to listen in.

“It’s not that! I just— I knew from the start that’s where she’d go. She’s always been kind of off— don’t you see it in her eyes? She always looks like she’s up to something—“ Hermione cut Ron off.

“No, I don’t see anything of the sort in her eyes.” She huffed. “You’re just being illogical AND insensitive.” 

“She really doesn’t seem that bad…?” Harry reasoned. “She has a more crude sense of humor and sure she’s in Slytherin, but she’s nothing like that git Malfoy.” 

“I’m the one here that’s known her second longest! Cass, don’t you agree? They’re literally sisters!” Ron argued back. 

“I—“ Cassidy bit her lip and glanced away, “I don’t want to but…. Ron’s not… completely wrong. She’s— ever since we were 8 she became so withdrawn and…”

“Ha! Take that.” Ron said triumphantly. “This is coming from the two people who’ve known Elaine the longest. There’s something off.” 

Hermione and Harry shared an uncertain glance.  
“Fine. Let’s just drop it for now then.” Hermione said bitterly. 

Elaine raised an eyebrow from her hiding spot. She can’t even… say that she was surprised really. Just kind of disappointed. Ironic, how the two people who don’t even know her were the ones to jump to her defense…. and Ron knew all along? Was it that obvious? That she was meant to be in Slytherin? Or well, he might’ve just been biased. Leave it to him to pair his least favorite person to his least favorite house. How funny, just at the beginning of the day Cassidy was smiling at her as if she was worried about the other people in the house... but it appears Elaine was the concern from the start, hm? ‘Ah… I can continue these musings later. I can’t just sit here. I have to grab the book I came here for.’

She quietly walked down the line of books, in the opposite direction of the table and made a show of running loudly down the aisle and turning the corner of the bookshelf. She ran up to the table awkwardly, panting from her ‘running.’ 

“Hi guys, sorry to interrupt. I realized I left my book here by the time I neared the dungeons,” que a ‘ragged breath,’ “I’ll be on my way again then!” She picked up her book and stuffed it into her bag, hurrying out of the library again, only giving them time to say quick goodbyes. As she walked out, she sighed and slowed her pace, quitting the exhausted act. 

As she made her way down to the dungeons, she couldn’t help but wonder how her relationship with those four would fester over the years because this certainly was not the best start.


	3. OC ref - girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reference sheet for girls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a new chapter! Just design reference

Basic Reference Sheet of the girl OC’s!! Haven’t drawn Cael yet — He’ll come soon enough though. 


	4. Classes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, just wanted to let you all know that even though in the general summary is says that Malfoy and her have a decent relationship, this is a slow burn, so that is not what it’s going to be at the beginning. Their relationship will improve in later years. Just wanted to leave a clarification!

The next few days passed rather smoothly. After the meeting in the library with the four Gryffindors, Elaine hadn’t really crossed paths with them much other than a shared DADA class on Tuesday. As she expected, the tension between Gryffindor and Slytherins was high as ever in classes. Malfoy seemed to be deadset on mocking Harry for refusing his offer of friendship. Now, the end of the first week was rolling around and it was Friday. She assumed the tension would be even higher with the head of the Slytherin house teaching their first class of the morning, double potions. 

“What are you stuck in your head about?~” Cael mused from her side, poking her face. Her cheek squished under his index finger, which she didn’t care enough to stop.

Her eyes drifted towards him. “Just curious about today.” She responded, rubbing her eyes. Right now, it was just her and Cael walking to potions. Apparently neither of them wanted to be awoken for food and decided to skip breakfast in favor of more sleep. She does vaguely recall Fiona saying she’d grab something for Elaine to have in between classes though and considering Cael’s absence, she assumed Fiona would grab something for him too. As they walked on the cold stone floor, she felt appreciative that potions were being taught in the dungeons. It made it quite easy to get there straight from their common room.

“You seem to always be curious about something, sure you’re not a Ravenclaw, El?” Cael teased, removing his index finger from her cheek.

“I thought I’d be actually,” Elaine answered and then smiled coyly, “I’m quite excited to see how the class gets along this time.”

He laughed in response and smirked. “I see, I see, little El just wants a show.” 

“I don’t know why you insist on referring to me as little when you’re an inch taller than me.” She said, unimpressed.

“Well I have to patronize someone for their height here—“ He cut himself off, covering his hands for a dramatic whisper, “And Alex is _taller_ than me. Completely out of the question.”

Elaine barked out a laugh. “HA— I long to see the day where you both stop growing and she’s still taller than you.” 

“No, no, no. That simply will not happen. I won’t allow it.” He shook his head, determined.

“I don’t think that’s something you can control, Cael.” She laughed, shaking her head.

He opened the door to the empty potions classroom and smirked. “Just you wait and see. I’ll be taller than her.” 

She huffed, holding her hands up in surrender with an amused smile. “Alright.”

They settled into two seats in the back row. Soon enough, other students started filtering into the room. Fiona was one of the first to appear with Alex right at her tail. 

She held out two muffins wrapped in napkins and two apples. “Here, I grabbed some for you too Cael. I noticed you weren’t at breakfast,” Fiona sent the two a close-eyed smile. 

“Thank you,” Elaine nodded toward her, grateful. 

Cael grinned. “Thanks Fifi, I appreciate it.” His gaze travelled toward Alex. He sent her a flirtatious wink, “Wanna be desk partners?” 

“No,” was her prompt response, with a deadpan face. She nodded to Elaine in acknowledgment and grabbed a giggling Fiona by the arm, dragging her to the other two seats in the back that were on the left side of the room unlike the two Cael and Elaine snatched from the right.

Elaine tried to cover up her laugh as a cough in response to Cael’s scrunched up face. He glared at her playfully before a smirk found its way back onto his face. “You’re laughing now, but you’ll see. One day I’ll win her over.”

Elaine nodded solemnly, making a show of looking disbelieving. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

“It _does_ , thank you very much. So glad to have your support.” He quipped back.

She huffed in amusement, “Of course.”

Eventually the other first year Slytherins and Gryffindors began to trickle into class.

“Hi Eli!” Cassidy greeted her on her way in, earning a snort from Malfoy who unfortunately sat in the desk in front of their’s. 

Elaine waved at her in response, not feeling inclined to give a verbal response. Her thoughts drifted back to the conversation she overheard in the library. Her sister and her were never exactly close per say, but the lack of defense on her part had Elaine feeling a bit bitter. ‘At least it’s not out of the ordinary for me to not give a verbal response…’ 

Hermione and Harry waved at her as well which she returned. Ron however, ignored her, as expected. 

“Cozying up to the Gryffindors, now are you? Who am I kidding, of course you are. You clearly have no standards.” Malfoy twisted in his chair to face Elaine, his pale face scrunched in disgust. 

“Standards are not using that much hair gel, Malfoy.” Elaine said in a monotone voice, not even sparing him a glance as she pulled her potion book out of her book bag.

“Shut up,” he snarled, “You don’t get any type of say in _standards._ ”

Cael shook his head, “On the contrary, it might just be the opposite, Mal~”

“Do _not_ call me nicknames, Toleson.” Malfoy threatened. Crabbe, who was his desk partner, watched from his side, nodding ‘intimidatingly’ in agreement. 

“Or what?” Cael grinned, eyes glimmering with delight. Elaine couldn’t hide the upturn of her lips at the interaction occurring.

“I’ll tell my father about this!” Malfoy angrily spat out, turning back around in his seat to face the front of the classroom. 

Elaine barely managed to hold in her snickers. She realized she was lucky that she had, after a dramatic swish of his black cape marked Professor Snape’s entrance. (It was a flair for dramatics that she wished she had if she were being completely honest.) His eyes scanned the class coldly as he began taking roll call. He paused once reaching a certain name, however.

  
  


“Ah, Yes,” he said softly, “Harry Potter. Our new — celebrity.” His voice regarded Harry’s title in cold disdain. 

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle all snickered. Snape finished calling out the list of names and glanced up, discarding the list to face the class. 

“You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking,” he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but that only made the students more attentive. It was a smart strategy to pick at natural curiosity, Elaine noted.

“As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don’t expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even stop death — if you aren’t as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.”

Elaine’s breath caught in her throat. Now _that_ sounded riveting. She really hoped she could remain attentive enough to do well in the class because it surely sounded interesting. Possibly the most intriguing class she’d had so far, she noted. A pause took place after his speech, seemingly also for dramatic effect. 

“Man, I’m almost impressed just by his dramatics,” Cael mumbled quietly to her, under his breath.

“For sure,” she whispered back quickly. They both ended the conversation there, knowing better than to get caught. 

Snape started back up abruptly, addressing Harry. “Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?”

“I don’t know, sir,” replied Harry. Elaine watched Hermione’s hand shoot up into the air in 0.1 seconds. ‘Well she’s quite eager to answer,’ she noted passively. 

  
  


Snape’s lips curled into a sneer. “Tut, tut — fame clearly isn’t everything.” Hermione’s raised hand wasn’t even acknowledged.

“Let’s try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?” Snaps pressed onward. Hermione stretched her hand as high as she possibly could. Elaine was convinced she could’ve touched the ceiling if it was lower. She felt bad for Harry, being quizzed on his first day in a class he hasn’t even studied for yet, but Hermione was just being comical at this point. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were all shaking with laughter, as expected.

“I don’t know, sir.”

“Thought you wouldn’t open a book before coming, hm, Potter?” Snape drawled condescendingly. Hermione now began shaking her hand restlessly, desperate to get called on to answer.

Elaine held her face in her hand and sighed. Even Cael was having a hard time not snickering at Hermione’s desperate attempts to get picked. 

“What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?” Snape asked yet another question. Elaine found herself starting to get annoyed. The subject sounded fascinating, but all this class had been so far is humiliating-Harry-time. She glanced over at Cassidy who seemed to be quite angry with how this has turned out. She was aggressively hand signaling toward where Hermione sat next to her, trying to catch Snape’s attention, which was unwaveringly focused on Harry. 

At this last question, Hermione actually stood up out of her chair, stretching her hand up toward the dungeon ceiling. Cael slouched in his chair, shoving his face into his forearms to stop himself from laughing. Elaine found herself doing the same, she snickered before she could even help it. Oh my god this girl.

“I don’t know,” said Harry quietly. “I think Hermione does, though, why don’t you try her?” 

Snape certainly did not like that. “Sit down,” he snapped at Hermione. 

“For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren’t you all copying that down?”

There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Snape said, “And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter.”

“That’s no fair!” Cassidy objected, slamming a hand down onto the table. “I bet you that Hermione knew all the answers. Why wouldn’t you pick her?” 

Elaine shook her head to herself. Cassidy most certainly was getting herself into trouble making an enemy out of this professor. She’s heard he’s harsh on anyone who isn’t a Slytherin and even then it can be rocky. 

“Silence, Romanov. Questioning your teacher’s judgment, are you? Consider that another 3 points lost from Gryffindor for your unnecessary interjection. I suggest that you consider your words more wisely next time.” Snape took more points from them with no remorse.

The class finally started for real after the ordeal with Snape humiliating Harry. They were brewing a cure for boils apparently. Snape seemed intent on criticizing everyone. Only Malfoy was spared, and Snape even used his work as an example. Unfortunately, to Elaine’s displeasure, Cassidy’s outburst seemed to affect Snape’s judgement of _her_ . She could’ve sworn her’s was almost the same as Malfoy’s, yet he still gave her criticism, saying she didn’t stir the horned slugs right, unlike Malfoy’s. Malfoy sent her a very cocky smirk for this which was not appreciated. She didn’t realize one-upping the boy in verbal arguments would grow some sort of power-complex and she most definitely didn’t _want_ the prat to have one with her. It’s not her fault all his verbal quips suck.

Everything went to shit when Neville managed to somehow boil another boy’s cauldron. The potion spilled all over the floor, and subsequently Neville. She could hear Fiona shrieking as everyone stood up on their stools to avoid the scathing potion on the floor. From the looks of Neville’s horrible welts, it burnt, and it burnt badly. Her and Cael had both reacted quickly to hopping up on their stools. Elaine surveyed the room, making sure those who were notable were doing alright. Fiona and Alex had both jumped up on theirs in time. Fiona was actually clutching one of Alex’s sleeves tightly, scared. Luckily, Harry and Ron were okay despite being right near Neville, and Cassidy and Hermione were alright as well. Her eyes flitted towards the blonde brat in front of them, apparently Malfoy was alright too. Neville has been the only one to suffer direct physical injury.

  
  


“Idiot boy!” snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. “I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?”

Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose, unable to answer.

“Take him up to the hospital wing,” Snape spat at Seamus. Then he rounded on Harry and Ron, who had been working next to Neville.

“You — Potter — why didn’t you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he’d make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That’s another point you’ve lost for Gryffindor.”

Elaine grimaced. He really didn’t like Harry, huh? In fact he seemed to rather hate him. She could see Cassidy visibly seething, but it seemed she kept quiet in favor of not losing even more points for the Gryffindor house.

After that, class came to an abrupt end, Neville getting dragged to the hospital wing. Elaine exited the classroom with Cael, Fiona and Alex following soon after. They were about to get going to their next class when Elaine felt a tug on the back of her robes. She spun around to face Cassidy, who looked visibly upset still, face flushed red and a fist balled at her side.

“...Yes?” Elaine asked, confused as to why Cassidy would be addressing her right now.

“Why did you laugh?” Cassidy rounded on her, crossing her arms.

“Excuse me?” Elaine furrowed her brows. She hadn’t accidentally laughed at Hermione during that whole endeavor had she?

“I heard you laugh when Hermione was trying to get Snape’s attention.” She huffed.

Cael laughed at that, “Oh come on, that was hardly a chuckle. I was sitting right next to her.” 

“It was a laugh none the less! It wasn’t funny. Harry was getting humiliated and Hermione was being straight up ignored!” Cassidy argued.

“Cass— we really don’t have time for this. We have to get to class. As much as I agree that Harry shouldn’t have been humiliated, Hermione being so desperate to get picked was kind of funny. I really couldn’t help it, I’m sorry. Please excuse us, we’re going to our next class now.” Elaine explained in a rush, stepping back and making her way to the dungeon exit as soon as she finished speaking. 

“Lay off,” She heard Alex’s rough voice say to Cassidy as she kept walking. Soon enough, Cael, Fiona, and Alex all caught up to her again.

“She has quite the temper, doesn’t she?” Fiona scratched her cheek awkwardly. 

Elaine huffed out a laugh, “She sure does.” 

“What was she getting so on your ass for? It’s not like you even had anything to do with that.” Alex questioned, seemingly annoyed with Cassidy’s behavior.

Cael nodded in agreement. “Seemed overdramatic to me.”

“I guess you could say that. She tends to get upset when I don’t jump into other people’s business, or when I just remain passive. She likes taking a.. more active role in just about everything.” Elaine explained as they walked.

“Seems tiring.” Cael commented, shooting his eyebrows up with a neutral expression.

“Yeah,” Elaine agreed automatically before processing the statement, “ _Yeah._ ” It really could be because alas, 

She’ll never be her sister and her sister will never be her.

———

  
  


The depths of the lake were mesmerizing to her, the varying shade of blues, greens, and blacks drew her in and threatened to never let her return. She’s seen a few fish that were reminiscent of those that lurk in the deeper parts of the ocean, where light doesn’t reach. She naturally never thought she’d get the chance to see any up close. Other than that, she had yet to see many creatures though. She leaned her forehead against the glass and closed her eyes.

 _Why do I feel like I’m forgetting something…?.... Ah, I like the water sounds... they’re soothing…_

She basked in the feeling of the cold window pressed against her forehead for a moment.

Her eyes abruptly shot open. _A letter._ She had to write a letter to her parents! _Blimey, I completely forgot… no doubt Cassidy’s already sent one. I wonder if she mentioned what house I’m in already?_

She sighed. 1 am, what the perfect time for a realization that she’d forgotten to send her parents anything, because now was most certainly a time she wanted to write. (Note the heavy _heavy_ sarcasm)

She backed away from the large window, settling into a chair at the table. She began writing her letter.

_Dear Mom and Dad,_

_I’m sorry I forgot to write sooner. I assume Cassidy has already written to you? I got sorted into Slytherin, surprisingly. It’s actually been quite nice so far! There’s some people I don’t get along with but I’ve been able to meet some others whom I’d consider friends. Potions seems like the most interesting subject but I’m not too sure about the class. It’s a bit tense since our double potions is shared between the Gryffindors and Slytherins. I hope you’re both doing well!_

_(I will kindly accept any form of chocolate along with a response, just putting that out there)_

_Sincerely,_

_Elaine_

_Had that been too short and simple?_ Oh well, to hell with it, she didn’t exactly care to make it any longer. She folded the letter and slipped it into the envelope. _I’ll just bring it into the owlery tomorrow._

Her eyes drifted back towards the window only for a brief moment before her attention was stolen. Heavy breaths and the sound of stomping met her ears. She turned her head to the direction it came from, the girls’ dormitory, only to meet another pair of dark brown eyes. It was Alex. Her expression looked ragged and her dark red hair was unruly, sticking up in all different ways. Alex quickly stoned her expression after meeting Elaine’s gaze, but it wasn’t fast enough for Elaine to miss it. She had looked scared.

Alex’s eyebrows were downturnt as she glared at her. “What’re you looking at?” She snapped.

Elaine pursed her lips. Alex obviously didn’t like seeming vulnerable, so she didn’t want to express too much concern. However, she also didn’t want to seem like she didn’t care. She shook her head. “Nothing,” she glanced away from Alex.

Silence overtook them. It was an awkward and tense kind of silence, Alex still standing rigid by the entrance to the girls dorms.

“...Bad dream?” Elaine questioned timidly, her voice quiet. She felt unsure of what to do.

“Something like that.” Alex replied briskly, arms crossed, and form stiff. Elaine nodded at her without looking over and stayed glued to her seat, awkwardly. The few seconds that passed felt like painfully long minutes before Elaine came to a conclusion on what to do.

Elaine pushed her chair back, the legs scraping against the stone floor. She looked back over at Alex, meeting her eyes. Alex looked just about ready to go back to their dorm room, half of her body turned toward the entrance.

“I think I’m going to go back to bed.” Elaine nodded toward Alex, standing up. Alex looked a bit surprised before nodding back at her. She must’ve expected Elaine to ask more questions. As much as Elaine wanted to pry… they hadn’t known each other long, realistically. It would’ve felt too invasive too soon and she didn’t want to make Alex uncomfortable.

As Elaine walked closer, Alex stepped to the side to give her room to leave, turning her back to Elaine. Elaine reached out her hand to her shoulder. She hesitated, her hand pausing midair, before deciding to follow through anyways. She placed her hand on Alex’s shoulder, causing her to turn to Elaine. Alex’s mouth opened as if to start yelling at her.

“The lake’s quite calming if you’re interested in watching it,” Elaine said calmly, motioning her head toward the window. She mustered a small smile at her. “Goodnight.” 

Alex’s expression faltered slightly before she turned her head away. She glanced back over at Elaine after a brief pause. “Alright.” 

Elaine let go of her shoulder and headed back towards their dorm. She smiled to herself faintly. All things considered, she thinks it went well. If she had pushed she has no doubt that Alex just would’ve gotten defensive and upset.

  
  


She was glad she said something at least. With the interaction in mind, after settling into bed, she drifted off to sleep.

Well, her dreams consisted of sweets more than anything related to Alex though. 

  
  


———

  
  


Taking advantage of the weekend, Elaine woke up only 10 minutes before noon. She surveyed the room after sitting up and yawning, to find it empty. She took a shower and brushed her hair that she had ignored the previous day. Luckily, the water from the shower helped undo any knots.

She tended not to like drying her hair via towels or hair dryers so she just let it dry naturally and got changed. She checked the time to see it was now 12:20. Perfect, she could drop off her letter in the owlery and make it right when lunch was starting.

She exited her dorm and made her way to the common room. Her eyes immediately caught onto a platinum blonde tuft of hair and realized Malfoy and his goons were sitting on one of the couches. It was the couch facing away from the entrance to the girl’s dorm and toward the fireplace. She walked behind them quietly, intending to slip out without any trouble. This was interrupted by Goyle saying something from where he sat on Malfoy’s left that caused Malfoy to snap his head toward him, and as a result see Elaine right by the common room exit, about to leave.

He sneered, eyeing her form. “A wet dog now, Romanov? I’m really convinced you just keep commenting on my gel because you’re jealous that I can afford hair products, considering you seem to have none for that rat’s nest.” He eyed her hair that had barely begun to dry, the back of her robes damp.

She scoffed and turned around to face him. “Well, I’m quite content with my hair drying just like this. Is there an issue?” 

Malfoy scrunched his face. “The issue is right in front of me,” he eyed her up and down.

Her eyebrows jumped as a cat-like smile rose to her lips. “Then, it should be no problem if I, the issue, excuse myself. Bye bye!~” She whipped back around, waving mockingly as she rushed out the common room. She heard an offended ‘Hey!’ Before the door slammed shut.

She began to make her way toward the owlery. 

  
  


———

  
  


The rest of the week and weekend had gone by smoothly. To her surprise, Alex had only avoided her for a day after Elaine had accidentally seen her in the common room, distraught. They all continued to hang out with no issues. In addition to that, her letter to her parents had been sent with no issues and she had already received a reply back. She was a bit relieved to see that based off their tones, Cassidy hadn’t trash-talked her in her letter or anything of the sort. 

Her thoughts drifted back to her friend group. She’d learned a few things about them all over the almost two weeks with them. She had gotten a general grasp of their personalities, and just a few irreverent fun details as well. For example, Fiona’s favorite color was white or periwinkle (she couldn’t decide), Alex’s was black, and Cael’s was red, specifically a deep blood red. This info was from when Cael had tried a bunch of cheesy ice-breaker questions as a conversation starter. Elaine had to admit that she liked the small details she learned from it even if Alex had been rolling her eyes the whole time.

In terms of personalities, they all had differing ones, but Elaine quite liked them all. Fiona tended to be more soft spoken, smiling and giggling from the sideline. She had been the most openly caring of the group, offering to bring Elaine food when she had skipped breakfast. Despite being sweet, she wasn’t a pushover and seemed to enjoy watching others within the house bicker. She’d often mumble amused comments to Elaine or giggle into her shoulder. 

Alex tended to remain quiet unless she was making a sarcastic quip, which used to be Elaine’s thing, but she surprisingly found herself being one of the more dominant talkers in their quadruple friend group. Alex’s comments tended to be more sharp as well, and her mood more bitter. Rough around the edges, but she was fun company. Despite being a muggleborn in the Slytherin house, she seemed to be handling herself well, ignoring their taunts. 

Cael was the one that talked the most out of them. He liked joking around and acting cocky. He said he prides himself in his charisma that Alex insisted he doesn’t have. Speaking of, he also had taken quite a liking to flirting with Alex who would glare at him each time for it. He enjoyed arguments and banter, whether he was watching or participating in them. He also enjoy teasing anyone it seemed, but especially the three other girls since they were all friends.

Elaine smiled to herself. She really did enjoy all of their company. They also hadn’t talked much with their other roommate, Tracey Davis. But she’d occasionally hear her mumble under her breath about wishing she was rooming with Pansy Parkinson’s group of girls who had formed their own friend circle. None of the girls really paid her any mind other than Fiona who would greet her politely. 

Enough reminiscing though, today was a Thursday. It hadn’t even been two weeks yet, but Elaine felt a bit more content with herself too. She’d never felt so confident or outspoken, but here she was being one of the most active talkers in her friend group and readily sassing Draco Malfoy without a second thought. 

She glanced down at her timetable. Today was when they’d be having their first flying lessons. They refrained from teaching it last week since they wanted the first-year students to focus on adjusting to the school setting. 

Elaine was a bit reluctant about it, she never had issues with flying. But, she had never really been into quidditch. She never paid muggle or wizard sports any mind even though Cassidy loved quidditch. _Merlin_ , it felt like everyone loved quidditch. The Weasleys always talked about it throughout her childhood, Cassidy did as well naturally, and she even overheard some Slytherins talking about it. She wasn’t too surprised though, a lot of the Slytherins seemed to be extremely competitive which made sense given their central house trait, ambition. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff seemed to care the least for it even though many from their houses still enjoyed the sport. Speaking of Slytherins who talked about quidditch, Malfoy wouldn’t shut up about it all during lunch. He kept boasting about all the times he had just barely dodged muggle helicopters. Elaine wasn’t very inclined to believe it. 

At 3:30 they started their flying lessons which were taught by Madam Hooch. Madam Hooch had arrived after all the students, quickly instructed them once she was there. “Well, what are you all waiting for?” she barked. “Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up.”

They all formed two lines, each standing by a broom. To her left was Cael and to her right was Fiona. Alex stood on Fiona’s right and Cassidy was across from her. They actually hadn’t really talked the whole week. Hermione seemed to be avoiding her gaze a bit as well. Elaine assumed that Cassidy must’ve told Hermione that she laughed at her in the potions class. 

Malfoy, who unfortunately was on Cael’s left, shot her a smug smirk. “I hope you fail, along with your inexperienced mudblood friend. In fact, I know you will.” He addressed her in a tone just low enough so that Madam Hooch wouldn’t hear.

Cael was the one to respond first. “Don’t get too in over your head, Mal. I bet you a sickle that Alex’ll be better at flying than you.” 

“Not me?” Elaine teased quietly, mock offended.

“Well I can't just go telling _lies_ , El.” He quipped back. 

“Only a sickle?” Malfoy scoffed, “1. Cut the nicknames Toleson. 2. As if a muggle could beat me.” He snarled before he turned his attention away from them. Cael and Elaine both rolled their eyes. 

“Stick out your right hand over your broom,” called Madam Hooch at the front, “and say ‘Up!’”

“UP” everyone shouted.

Elaine’s broom had rolled on the ground a bit, but hadn't jumped into her hand. She noticed that Cael’s, Alex’s, and Malfoy’s all had jumped into theirs though. Fiona’s hadn’t moved. The only other person who’s broom jumped into their hands was Harry.

After her second try, the broom properly flew up into her hand. After everyone had gotten their brooms up, they moved on to mounting their brooms. 

“Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard,” said Madam Hooch. “Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle — three — two —”

Before Madam Hooch had even finished her counting, Neville had pushed off the ground.

“Come back, boy!” she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle — twelve feet — twenty feet. He looked terrified, his face pale, and then to his horror he began to slip.

WHAM — a sickening crack had taken place when Neville fell facedown from the air. Cassidy had gasped as soon as he landed. His broomstick was still rising higher and higher, and started to drift lazily toward the forbidden forest and out of sight. Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face as white as his. 

“Broken wrist,” She muttered. “Come on, boy — it’s all right, up you get.” She turned to face the rest of the class.

“None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you’ll be out of Hogwarts before you can say ‘Quidditch.’ Come on, dear.”

Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him. No sooner were they out of earshot than Malfoy burst into laughter. “Did you see his face, the great lump?”

Elaine rolled her eyes at Malfoy’s shitty insult. Of course Neville was scared, he couldn’t control his broom and he was rapidly spiraling upward until he _fell._

Crabbe and Goyle burst into laughter at his sides along with Pansy Parkinson and a couple other of the Slytherin girls.

Cael watched the Gryffindors, knowing that this would start a conflict. He seemed almost excited. Elaine glanced over toward Fiona and Alex’s side on her right. Fiona looked a bit worried for the boy and Alex looked like she didn’t particularly care.

“Shut up, Malfoy,” snapped Parvati Patil, one of the Gryffindors.

“Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?” Pansy chimes in mockingly. “Never thought you’d like fat little crybabies, Parvati.”

“Don’t mock Neville or Parvati!” Cassidy growled at the pug-faced girl. 

“Oh well you look at that, it’s the other Romanov. What, do you, Neville, and Parvati all have some sort of ugly love triangle?” Pansy sneered at her sister. Their argument was interrupted by Malfoy’s voice. 

“Look!” said Malfoy, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass. “It’s that stupid thing Longbottom’s gran sent him.”

The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up.

“Let go of it!” Cassidy yelled at the same time that Harry quietly said, “Give that here, Malfoy.” 

“Hmm, I think I’ll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find — how about — up a tree?” Malfoy smiled maliciously.

“Give it here!” Harry yelled, but Malfoy had leapt onto his broomstick and taken off. Cassidy huffed in anger. Elaine was pleasantly surprised to see Malfoy hadn’t been lying, he could actually fly well. Although, she still doubted the helicopter stories. 

Hovering level with the topmost branches of an oak Malfoy began to taunt him, “Come and get it, Potter!” 

Harry grabbed his broom along with Cassidy.

“No!” Hermione shouted from his side distressed. “What’re you both doing— Madam Hooch told us not to move — you’ll get us all into trouble.”

“This is getting juicy,” Cael said from her side, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

“Well it sure is,” Elaine paused to survey the scene, “becoming quite something.” 

Harry ignored Hermione and mounted his broom with natural ease and rapidly caught up to Malfoy. Cassidy followed not far behind him. Elaine almost felt bad at how easily Harry, a beginner, had caught up to the boy who’d been boasting about flying his whole life. It’s not like that was within Harry’s control though.

Several of the girls cheered in awe and Elaine heard Ron let out his own impressed ‘Whoop!’ as well.

The three were too far to see expressions clearly, but they could all see Harry turn his broomstick sharply to face Malfoy in midair. 

“Give it here,” Harry called, “or I’ll knock you off that broom!” He was loud enough that his words could just barely be made out.

“It’s two verses one Malfoy. I’d back down if I were you!” Elaine heard Cassidy yell threateningly.

She couldn’t quite hear Malfoy, but she knew he was going to do anything but hand it over. He was probably sneering at Harry and Cassidy as they spoke.

“Oh man, this shits getting _intense_ quick!” Cael exclaimed. “I really wish we could hear it better,” he mumbled with a tinge of disappointment. 

“I hope neither of them fall…” Fiona said a bit nervously.

“I hope both of them fall.” Alex snorted, arms crossed.

Ron’s head snapped over to her, offended. “Why should Harry fall? The only git that deserves it is Malfoy!”

Elaine would argue that no one deserved to fall, but that would feel a bit hypocritical. She would definitely want someone to fall if they wronged her to a certain degree.

“Relax,” Cael responded before Alex could, “She was just joking.” 

Hermione scoffed. “Well that’s not a very funny idea of a joke! They should both come back here right now. Harry’s either going to fall or get us all into trouble!” She exclaimed, clearly distressed. 

They were all caught off by a sharp gasp and turned their heads up to see Harry had charged at Malfoy. Several of the gryffindor girls started clapping. Cassidy tried to reach for Malfoy’s arm but he swerved out of the way.

“This isn’t going to end well is it…” Fiona mumbled from next to Elaine.

“I suspect that may be the case.” Elaine grimaced. 

And then— Malfoy threw it. He threw the remembral as he shouted “CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!” and darted back towards the ground. Elaine had to admit it was clever of him, there was no way he could’ve taken them both. Harry chased after the remembral as Cassidy trailed under him. “Be careful!” She heard her shout out. Cassidy must've been hoping to catch him if he fell or the like. 

In an effort to catch it he shot straight toward the ground. Fiona buried her face in Elaine’s shoulder, not wanting to watch someone smash their face inward by rapidly charging at the ground. Cassidy wasn’t able to follow him efficiently anymore with him flying too fast, she opened her mouth,

“HARRY POTTER!”

Cassidy had yelled his first name in concern at the exact time Professor McGonagall had yelled his full name in a reprimanding tone, their voices mingled. 

He had just landed on the ground with a tumble after having caught the remembral. The professor rushed toward him. Cael let out an interested whistle.

“Never — in all my time at Hogwarts —” Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock, and her glasses flashed furiously, “—how dare you — might have broken your neck —” 

“It wasn’t his fault, Professor —”

“Be quiet, Miss Patil —”

“But Malfoy —”

“That’s enough, Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me, now.”

Malfoy and his gang snickered amongst themselves as McGonagall dragged Harry away.

“Wow,” Cael said grinning, “That was riveting.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Elaine responded dryly. 

“I think you mean worrying,” Fiona chimed in from where her head rested on Elaine’s shoulder.

“Or boring,” Alex supplied, picking at her nails.

Surprisingly, Malfoy was not the first person that the remnants of Harry’s group picked a fight with.

“Elaine!” She heard Hermione’s disappointed tone call out. She blinked in surprise. “M-me? What is it?” 

“You… you’re friends with those two. I’ve seen you around them.” She said, glancing between Cael and Alex. “They joked about wanting Harry to fall! That’s hardly appropriate.”

Cael rolled his eyes. “No one wanted anyone to fall. Keyword: Joked”

“I understand you’re upset but it wasn’t a serious comment of any sort,” Fiona piped in.

Cassidy’s anger seemed to heighten further as she listened in to the argument. She stomped over to Elaine. “Why didn’t you do anything?!”

“I didn’t have to do anything,” Elaine gritted out. “We’ve been over this. I’m not obligated to do something. Plus, what am I supposed to do? Insult Malfoy? That just would’ve riled him up more. This is arguably the _best_ outcome. No one is injured and the remembral isn’t damaged.”

“Neville’s injured.” Cassidy snapped at her.

”I’m obviously referring to after his injury, Cassidy.”

”Will you stop referring to me by my full name?” Cassidy glared at her.

Malfoy laughed, “Well, well, well, the Romanovs are fighting,” he coyly smirked as his eyes landed on Cassidy, “I hate to break it to you, Gryffindor Romanov, but maybe she didn’t do anything cause she didn’t care. Her and I are friends, you know?” 

Elaine’s eyes narrowed. _We’re nothing of the sort._ “Excuse you?” Malfoy’s eyes met her’s, glittering with malice. _Oh this petty git’s trying to worsen the situation for me all because I sass him. Oh my god._

“Excuse him?! Excuse YOU!” Cassidy spat back Elaine’s own words at her. “Malfoy?!? Malfoy. You’re friends with that prejudiced git?!”

She sighed, holding a hand to her head. “No, no we are not friends. He’s obviously lying to rile you up Cassidy.” 

“And it seems to be working,” Alex chimed in dully.

Cassidy spun her head to face Alex, opening and closing her mouth angrily, seemingly unable to get a grip on the correct words she wanted to yell. She shrieked in frustration and stormed off the field, making sure to bump into Malfoy’s shoulder on the way out. Hermione followed her out, dragging Ron along as he glared between Malfoy and Cassidy. The rest of the Gryffindors filtered out after those two left, sending nasty glares over at Malfoy.

Malfoy stared at Elaine pridefully. _He really wants to get under my skin, doesn’t he?_ She let out a breath and raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you hoping for a certain outcome here?” 

His face immediately soured at the lack of her outburst. He clicked his tongue, “I’ll get you one day Romanov. I’ve already had one victory with Potter and it certainly won’t be my last. Don’t go feeling all high and mighty just because you haven’t faced my wrath yet.” He stalked off the field after glaring at her, his goons and Pansy following after him. At Pansy’s leave, subsequently her little group of girls followed after.

“He really has a thing for you, huh El?” Cael said nonchalantly.

“Excuse me?” Elaine scrunched her face.

Fiona giggled into her shoulder. “He isss kind of obsessed with trying to get on your nerves.”

Alex barked out a laugh, “Aw look you have an admirer.” 

Elaine snickered, “Yeah an admirer for sure.”

  
As they walked back into the castle Elaine couldn’t help but dwell on her thoughts earlier in the day. Another thing had changed in the course of these two weeks, and it was the fact that she was becoming more like what felt like her actual self, rather than lurking in the shadows behind Cassidy

and that that was driving a wedge in their relationship, very, very quickly.

———


	5. Picrew OCs + Cael

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Working on next chapter !! I did a picrew for fun with the characters so here’s just some pictures of them in outfits I think they’d wear :) Cael included!! First glance at his appearance since I haven’t gotten around to drawing him or describing him either.
> 
> Here’s the picrew link if anyone wants to use it for their characters or themselves !!  
> https://picrew.me/image_maker/29841

  
Elaine ^  
  


  
Cassidy ^  
  


  
Alex ^  
  
Fiona ^

  
  
Cael ^

**Author's Note:**

> All characters except for my own Original Characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
> 
> Also, the first few chapters may seem pretty linear and similar to the actual story but it’s going to branch off more. Should still follow cannon, may be some tweaks though.


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